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When is a Green Web Host Really Green?

It is not easy being green, but the fast rising trend in the hosting world is to claim that you are a “green” web host.

That means that you are environmentally friendly and you fall under what is a scam in my opinion with the whole carbon offset project. Bob writes in with this related question…

“I have seen several web hosting companies claim they are ‘carbon neutral’ and ‘green web hosts’. Is this a marketing ploy or something I should be happy to see?”

To be honest there are a lot of people still “on the fence” with how good or not so good being “carbon neutral” is. On the positive side of things, before being taken over by the nutty people the idea of being carbon neutral was a good idea. It means you are releasing no carbon into the atmosphere. One of the first places that claimed to be totally carbon neutral was Vatican City, so you know if the Pope does it, it can’t be all that bad.

Then came in these special interests and people looking to make a buck on the deal. Web hosts go to a firm and buy a number of carbon credits to equal the amount of waste they are putting out. If they buy enough to cover their rear ends then they can claim to be carbon neutral. Think off it as a fat person who wants to get skinny, but instead of eating right and doing exercise they by “skinny credits” from Richard Simmons and they can claim to be skinny and health even though they haven’t changed a thing.

If your really interested in seeing how green your web host really is, try asking them what they are actually doing that could be seen as being economically friendly rather than how many carbon credits have they purchased.